Mixology
by AccendoAnimus
Summary: This is the story of nine friends, one night, and all the stupid, crazy, embarrassing things that we do, to find love. An intense night of drinking for Natsu, Grey, Gajeel, Erza, Lucy, Levy, Juvia, and Cana lead them to quite a few surprises with a few others. Some main ships will sail.
1. Lucy & Natsu

**post GMG's / no dragons/ No END/ battles same/ game ending same/essentially it ended** _ **normally. *** this means Jellal had no reason to be at the capital during the games!**_

-to enkindle courage

Review please :)

* * *

 **This is the story of ten friends, one night, and all the stupid, crazy, embarrassing things that we do, to find love.**

 **Lucy & Natsu**

9:00 pm

The grand magic games had ended without incident (like Natsu burning down the city) and with a bang (Fairy Tail taking the win) and we all know what that means.

"Let's parrrtaaaay!" Makorav is swaying on a barrel in a bar in Magnolia, clearly already partying. With the Fairy Tail symbol formed and his hand in the air, the half-drunk guild members obliged their master (for the…14th?... time tonight)

"Jeez, you'd think the old geezer has had enough." Grey shook his head, slightly amused, slightly annoyed. Just as he was about to speak again, Makorav was shoved off the barrel by a furious Cana. As Makorav flung across the bar, the guild burst into fits of intoxicated laughter at their master. He had been the only one to say goodbye to Mavis, their first master, and it had ticked off a few people. Without retaliation, the master sat against the wall he was just thrown against and started to laugh with the guild against the wall.

"The old guy never has enough." The dark haired iron slayer said with a chuckle. He grasped a drink and took a draw from it. "Salamander, you're drinking, right?" His eyes narrowed toward the pink-haired dragon beside him, who had been staring at his beer silently for a few minutes.

Snapped out of his daze, Natsu moved to grab his beer and take a sip, only to fumble the tankard and spill some liquid on his lap. Gajeel looks toward him unimpressed while Grey's laughter is renewed. "You wanna fight, ice princess?!" He jumped to his feet only to be pulled down by both men on either side of him.

"Uh uh." Gajeel sighs, grabbing his right arm.

"No way." Gray says at the same time, taking his left arm.

"Erza will _literally_ kill us _all_ if _any_ of us ruins _anything._ " Gray emphasized each point with a jab to Natsu shoulder. "We just got the money to fix the guild, if we lose it trying to fix this place, I think everyone will kill us." He concludes aloud to the salamander.

Grumbling, Natsu dropped down to his seat. "But then what do we doooooo then when we drink." He whines out, wishing he had chosen to go out with Happy, Wendy and Charles when they got back to town. _At least they can fight people while training._ Natsu thinks miserable to himself, though in reality, the trio had just gone for ice-cream down the road and returned home. (They made it a habit of lying to Natsu when they went because _he_ had the habit of melting everything in the store when they went in.)

Gray and Gajeel share an exasperated look before turning to the fire wizard. "We do what normal guys do, duh." Gray shrugged his shoulders as he took another drink.

Natsu turns curiously toward the ice mage. Gray rolls his eyes at him.

Gajeel grabs him by the shoulder and motions toward the bar, unveiling where the female mages had taken residence. They sat giggling together in their bar attire; legs and stomachs showing everywhere.

"We go get laid."

* * *

Lucy was, by all means, _not_ in the partying mood; it was Levy who convinced her to go out, despite them returning that very afternoon. "I just don't get why it can't be tomorrow."

"Ah, come on, Lu-chan." Levy looks up optimistically at her friend, her hands bunched into tight fists by her face. "We never get really drunk and we don't have to work until Sunday, so that means tonight-" She stops to grab of sip of her cocktail. "we drink!" She giggles up at her friend from her newly slumped positioning on the barstool.

Lucy sighs and looks down to her friend. Levy seems to really be in the mood to party, for reasons unbeknownst to Lucy. Not wishing to pry at this particular moment, Lucy simply agrees. This causes Levy to squeal and for Erza to fly her hands to her ears.

"Levy! Are you okay!?" Erza rushes to her side, forgetting her conversation with Juvia for the moment. (All she would really talk about is Grey anyway!)

"Oh, opps!" Levy giggles. Erza turns with raised eyebrows to Lucy who meets her with a shrug. Patting the seat beside her, Lucy motions for Erza to join them. Approaching cautiously, the scarlet haired woman, sat down. The bar tender was quick to bring a drink to the ladies before them. With a wink, he placed it down in front of Erza, who was too worried about Levy to notice.

Lucy let out a frustrated groan when he left. "How do you get all the guys, _even in armour!"_ She spat (accidentally) venomously, before she recovered. "Erm, I mean- pretty armor"

"Huh?" Erza turned to her, not knowing what she was talking about. "Well, I have my sword too." She sat back in her straight on the stool and brought her hand to hold her chin. "Though I _could_ probably just take them out with my barehands too."

Lucy's jawed dropped at her. Her hand flew to her forehead. _King of the Celestial Spirits, do not allow me to try to strangle her tonight._ Her eyes glanced over at Erza as she listed off ways of incapacitating men without her weapons. _I'd rather not die tonight._ Taking another sip from her drink, Lucy cuts off Erza's tirade as Levy had been trying to do. "Erza~~ what I meant is that all the boys think you're pretty." Lucy says extra sweetly, as to not induce the wrath of the fairy-queen.

Erza's face slowly begins to match her hair as she slunk back in her chair. "Do not…" She mumbled. Lucy, clearly amused with the situation, pushed harder.

"Awe, Levy-chan, isn't she _sooooo_ pretty." Lucy giggled as Erza blushed harder, making weak protests.

Levy giggled with her hand over her mouth as she nodded in agreement. "Soo pretty, Erzaa!"

After watching her squirm for a bit, Lucy laughed out loud at her. "Awe, calm down. It's true. All the boys in here are looking at you!"

Trying to gain some composure, Erza fired back, "Well, not _all_ of them. Certainly not the dragon-slayers." She teased as Levy blushed and Lucy looked at her confused.

It was Erza's turn to giggle. "I mean, those idiots have been looking straight at us for – " she turns to look at the clock on the wall. "for 20 minutes. Dang." She mumbles the last word, previously unaware it had really been that long.

Lucy whipped around to find the dragon slayers and Grey, casually looking at each other, but not speaking. _Maybe their having a contest or something?_ Lucy thinks to herself. "No they aren't"

Erza moves toward her drink to take a sip. "Lucy, they've been staring at _you guys._ So yeah, theyre gunna turn away when you look." She shrugged. "Another example of my lack of sex-appeal."

Lucy's jaw dropped for the second time tonight. How many times had this woman dressed up, stunned men with her looks and numerous other Erza-is-great-at-everything activities! Lucy thought for a moment though. Despite herself having numerous fling-boyfriends through-out the years, she had never really seen Erza with anyone….except Jellal. They hadn't seen him since before Tenrou Island.

"Come on Erza! You're plenty pretty!" Levy protested. As Erza sunk into her chair, she couldn't help but be disappointed that he hadn't come to see her yet.

"He is wanted by the council after all." Lucy patted her on the back. "You could always go for someone else."

"Go?"

"You know- try?"

"Huh?"

 _Am I talking to Natsu?_

"Erza, I mean, try to be with a different guy. Romantically." Lucy blushed slightly at the word, the alcohol ever so slowly taking hold of her .

"Oh." A mumble comes from her. After a moment, she brightens up, and takes a long drink. "I always give everything my 100%! So I will give this my 100% too."

"Oh no, Lu-chan, we—"

But before Lecy could say more, Erza was already on her way over to Elfman to interrogate (flirt?) with him as Evergreen gave her daggers from across the room.

"What have we done?" Levy paled at Erza.

"Caused some sort of entertainment for a while, I'm sure." Lucy giggled as she made dovey eyes at the bartender, who was currently serving the already _way-too-drunk-like-seriously-guys-stop-giving-her-drinks_ Cana. She laughs as the bartender peels away from her before she can grab at him, making his way over to stand infront of Lucy and Levy, who give him dazzling smiles.

* * *

"I feel like bunny-girl is gunna pounce on that poor bastard." A laugh comes from Gajeel as he starts his 3rd drink in half an hour.

"Haha man, he's been punching on any girls she finds attractive lately!" Grey mixes up a few words, face slightly red from the drinking contest the three just had. He just didn't have the stamina the dragon slayers did when it came to alcohol tolerance. Which baffled Grey; Natsu didn't usually drink.

As Natsu rolls his eyes at the two, he takes another drink.

"Come on flame-brain. I was sure you'd have a zinger there." Gajeel nudges him with his elbow. "Unless…" His eyes narrow and his face turns into a mischievous grin. "You gotta thaaang for bunny-girl." His smirk grew as Natsu turned from him to "wipe his mouth" with his scarf.

Natsu shurgs. "Naw, Lucy's into guys like—" His point is proven by a wave of a hand. Grey and Gajeel turn to see Lucy and Levy fawning over the ripped bartender, who was currently juggling cups with an amazing (was he sculpted by Zeus? Really?) smile. As Gajeel's eyes narrowed, Grey suddenly felt the urge to stretch his legs. (and totally not to flee jealous dragon slayer rage.)

As Grey left with a drunken wave, Gajeel turned around and mutter something. Natsu gives him an inquisitive look, but he brushes it off. "I don't even get you." Gajeel glowers to him.

"I dunno. I think I'm pretty simple." Natsu smiles as he takes a sip from his drink.

Gajeel looks over at Natsu with an unreadable expression before turning to drop his head on the table. Natsu pulls a face, unused to seeing a depressed Gajeel. "Why don't you just go talk to her?"

Gajeel lifts his head a for a moment, but only to copy Natsu's words in a mocking tone. "Well, dummy, because we're not like you and Lucy. It would be weird if I went over right now."

"Me and Lucy?"

"Ah shut the hell up for a second, I don't wanna hear your confused 'lucy and me' bullshit." Gajeel takes a sip from his drink and looks over to Levy. His mind flashes to the moment he first met her; it was not a pleasant one. He had viciously beaten her and her team mates; the very idea made his stomach turn to this day. "….i don't even know how she can look at me."

Natsu, not willing to partake in the sob fest, challenged Gajeel to a fight. "Sweet King, flame brain, I already said _we can't fight."_ He glowers at him. Natsu was secretly glad the topic had changed, but not for long.

"What the hell is up with you and bunny-girl anyway?" Gajeel nudges Natsu again.

Natsu casually shrugs and takes a sip from his drink. "We're nakama?" He raises an eyebrow, trying to make _Gajeel_ feel like the foolish one.

"Bull. No 'nakama' of mine sneaks into my house at night and into my bed." He stares at the roof. "I don't even know how that girl survives; no wonder she jumps so many different guys."

Natsu finished his beverage to order another from a passing waitress. "Not my business." Natsu shrugged again.

Gajeel turns to him and stares him straight in the eye. "Alright, heres the deal, you be 100% honest with me and I'll dedicate my next song to you."

"…that's a lose-lose for me, man."

"…"

"…"

"… dick. Fine, I'll get Pantherlily to serve you for a day." Gajeel quickly threw his best friend under the bus, certain he would understand the situation.

Natsu groaned. "Fine, what is it?

"When bunny-girl has a boy toy, do you still stay in her house?"

Natsu reeled back in shock. "Of course not!"

Gajeel bursts into laughter at the Salamander. "Why not?"

Natsu started confidently, "Because…." but he falters "because Lucy and the guy need alone time?" Gajeel gave him a raised eyebrow as a response. "I don't know! It's wrong I guess!"

"Why?"

An exasperated yell of frustration. Natsu stood, not wishing to think about it. Gajeel continued to laugh as he left the Salamander seething. He moved over toward Elfman and joined in the conversation with him and a few others.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu roars aloud, breathing a small flame into the air. Luckly, Erza was too busy with (terrified) Jet to notice him. With a grin on his face from her lack of notice, Natsu wanders over to Grey. Determined to start a fight, he starts calling the ice-mage names.

Grey ,however, was way too busy getting Juvia off of him. She acts like she hasn't seen him in years as she grips onto his sides; her empty tankards a few feet from her. Admitting that, _maybe_ , Grey had too much on his plate at the moment, Natsu finds himself at the bar, wanting another drink.

As he stands there, a brunette saunters over to him and draps her arm over his shoulder. Natsu could barley contain the eye roll. _This again?_

"Natsuuuu~" She whispers in his ear, causing him to move away.

"Cana." He states simply.

"Awe, don't be like that." She frowns up at him as she leans her head on his shoulder. Cana was notorious for her…physical contact when she was drinking, lately. However, it only seemed to be aimed toward him today. "Natsu~~ lets go somewhere…together." She trailed off, lifting her eyebrows at him.

"We're here together." He points out to her.

She giggles and twirls to find herself back in her chair. At her face, Natsu can't help but laugh at her, causing said face to turn red and him to laugh more. She narrows her eyes at him and he stops his loud laughing and slowly proceeds to softly chuckle. "I mean aloooone. A.L.O.N.E." She spelled out for him in the air, and from what his spelling from Erza told him, there was no P in alone. He would ask her later if the spelling had been changed to add a P to which she would shake her head (slightly ashamed of him) and leave.

"Naw." He shrugs and takes another drink. "Wanna fight?" He grins and looks to her with excitement.

She gives him a mischievous grin and says. "Sure!"

Natsu, shocked at saying yes, jumps to his feet and grabs her hands. "Really?"

She smiles. "On one condition." She puts up one finger. He nods. "We fight with…our tongues." She grins again.

"Uh.."

"Too late!"

And without another word, Natsu is pulled into his 50th kiss of the day with Cana. Her hands intertwine with his hair and she giggles. Sighing to himself, he pushes her off. With a slight protest, she pouts at him. "Meanie!" Turning, she begins to laugh and turns toward her next target. _Does that mean I'm clear for the night? I don't want to do anymore 'kissing'. yuk._ He wipes his mouth and takes a drink, wanting to get rid of Cana's taste of vomit and vodka. _Definitely should've gone with happy._

* * *

"Ugh, I don't even believe him. With _her._ She's like, 100!" Lucy shouts as she sees the lip smacking between her nakama. Levy giggles beside her as Lucy mumbles more incoherent things toward the couple.

She tsks at Lucy. "Someones showing her green."

Lucy glowers toward her, "Gajeel made a move yet?" Lucy nudges her. Levy, turning bright red, faces away from her. After a moment, Jet calls Levy over to the pool table in the back. Turning to smile at Lucy (because all is forgiven, girls just be bitches sometimez), Levy makes her way to the back, leaving her alone.

Smiling to herself, Lucy winks at the bartender. He casually makes his way over after taking another order to clean the area that just so happened to be infront of her. _Oh yes, please._ She thought to herself as she squeezed her boobs together, giving him a good view as she admired his biceps.

A cough from behind had startled her. She turned to see Natsu glaring at the bartender. Once Lucy turned back around, he was gone. After an exasperated moan of frustration, she turns to him. "What the hell?"

"He's a jerk. He probably gets with girls all the time after his 'job'" Natsu uses air quotes around the word job. "Besides!" He plopped down into the seat Levy had vacated. "I'm way …. hotter." He puts his hands behind his head as Lucy's eyes widen. After a second, he realizes what he had said and quickly puts his hands up defensively. "I mean! I just didn't want to say cooler because the cold sucks! Just like Grey!" He awkwardly laughs! "That cold bastard!"

"Well, I don't know about that you just said, but you were just snogging Cana over there. At least this guy hasn't kissed someone else tonight." She uses her thumb to point back at him. Her eyes widened after a moment. "Not that I think about kissing you!" She fumes, face red.

Natsu simply laughs at Lucy. _Cute._ He freezes for a moment before continuing in friendly conversation with her. _Did I really just think that?_

"Did you really just think what?" She peers at him curiously as he stated it randomly in the conversation.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Putting a finger on his nose, Lucy states "Boop. I'm confused." Natsu can't contain his giggles as he flicks away her finger and pulls his scarf over his face, trying to hide the smile. Shrugging, Lucy turns from him. "I just want someone to be happy with, for more than a night. Yea? Just whatever. He'll" She winks at the bartender again, "Do just fine." She nudges her silent friend. "Hey, why don't you go talk to someone."

"I _am_ talking to someone." Natsu points out to her.

She giggles again. "I mean someone you, _like."_

"But I like you, Luce!" He smiles at her and takes another sip from his drink.

Despite the fact she knows that he is just casually saying those words, her heart almost leaps out of her mouth. _Calm down, dummy._

She turns from him to grab another drink.

"Bet I can drink faster than you." She challenges him.

Meeting her gaze and grin, he brings up his beer.

"You're on, woman!"

* * *

I havent been this excited about a story in a while! :) Fav & review for more 3


	2. Gajeel&Levy

Hey, R&R :)

-to enkindle courage

* * *

 **This is the story of 10 friends, one night, and all the stupid, crazy, embarrassing things that we do, to find love.**

 **Gajeel & Levy**

 **9:26pm**

"Oh, I'm a big tough flame head who can do whatever! I like to smash stuff and ruin peoples jobs!" He puffs up his arms and is greeted with a chorus of laughter. He smiles wirily, secretly content with himself for making them all laugh. His shirt ruffles as he moves his arms back down to his sides, subconsciously avoiding trapping his hair in his arms.

"Haha! Gaj- man. That imitation was way too manly!" Gajeel quickly feels a hard pressure on his shoulder; looking up to see Elfman wiping tears away from his burst of laughter while bring the other hand down to shack his shoulder. The group had decided to start doing imitations of other guild members. Erza tried to stifle her laughter before turning to see Natsu and Lucy giggling together at the bar, totally distracted from their little game. Turning back, she almost frowns before regaining her smile. She had tried to flirt with almost every male in the bar, only to be shut down each time. (With them running away)

There's a poof and then then there are two iron dragon slayers. (but ones in a dress.) "Hmphh!" The one in the dress goes, puffing up their chest and then whipping his/her head up to look at the sky. Her/his eyes are narrowed and scowl at an invisible enemy who was hiding on the roof. "Whatever." He/She purses their lips.

Silence.

Then a booming laugh burst from the members of the group. Their hearty chuckles left them in shambles and bent over. "Mira!" His voice is sharp and quick as he crosses his arms. Gajeel glowers at her before she poofs back to normal. She smiles shyly away from him.

"I thought it was pretty good." She fidgets as everyone laughs around her before a smile crosses her face. Gajeel quickly realizes that he is doing the exact thing she had just imitated and quickly stops.

Gajeel glowers at them before smiling slightly. He joins in the chuckling; finally allowing himself to let loose for the night. A few more rounds go by with Elfman doing _an freaking amazing_ imitation of Lisanna. As his sisters bursts into (laughing) tears at his antics, Erza quickly did an awful impression of Happy. Her 'aye sir!' just not having the spunk it needed. Drunken Grey had wandered over during her pathetic attempt at comedy and upon her completion broke out into a love struck look.

With clasped hands and swaying his hips side to side, he shouts,"Juvia loves" He has to pause to hiccup, "Grey-sama!"

Even though it was an on spot performance, it was less funny with Grey doing it. His friends gave his a half pity chuckle (which he thought meant he was the height of hilarity and continued the charade). Gajeel rolled his eyes at the wizard as he swayed. He waved them off as he made his way to the back of the room; following the scent of a blue haired beauty.

When he found her, she was bent over the pool table, holding the stick incorrectly. Her shirt reveals a dangerous amount of cleavage that makes him wish she had chosen something else to wear. _Especially if she's going to play pool._ As he watches her, he finds himself smiling.

Jet shared a look with Droy and then bent over her, allowing his arms to drap over her and fix her position for holding the stick. You could almost feel the anger radiate from Gajeel. He seemed to blend into the very shadows. After striking the ball, she quickly jumps up, smacking the back of her head into Jet's nose. She doesn't notice him grab at his nose as she celebrates striking the ball. Clapping, she spins around. Her hands drop as she looks at his nose. Her hands fly to her mouth as she gasps.

As it bleeds, she apologizes profusely to him but he raises his hand to make her stop and smiles. Holding his nose, Droy helps him to the men's room, leaving Levy alone. He watches as she sighs before spinning around. He doesn't remember when he moved, but for some reason, he's right in front of her when he does. She releases a quick screech before she quiets.

"Oh hey, Gajeel!" She says in an excited voice, not expecting him to be around. "I thought you were with Erza and Elfman!" She smiles up at him and he can't but feel his heart soften a bit. Her puppy dog eyes seemed to be asking for something.

"Eh." He shrugs. "They got boring. Thought I'd see what you're up to, midget." He chuckles and ruffles her hair as she puffs her scarlet cheeks at him.

"Oh, I was just playing pool with Jet & Droy!" She's bursting with excitement now that he's here.

"I saw." His tone is neutral toward her.

"I was having a lot of fun. Jet was even showing me how to hold the stick properly! I don't know how to play, so it was nice to be shown." She glances up shyly at him. "Maybe you could show me how to play!"

He scratches the back of his head. "I'm not all that good, besides pool is a stupid game."

"Well, i don't know! I like it." She looks shyly away from him. He pokes her face with a finger. She grabs his hands and smiles, holding it for a moment, before pushing him away.

"Show me how to play!"

"Naw."

"Awe, come on Gaj-ey!" She nudges him with her elbow. He flinches as she gets him in a ticklish section of his ribs. "Don't be like that."

He turns to smirk at her. "I'm not like anything."

She giggles and turns to smiles up at him. She cocks her head to the side and squints her eyes.

"I know."

* * *

Cana sits at the bar, casually resting her chest on the wood, winking at the bartender. She has sobered out since her smooch fest with the flame head. She giggles to herself. _That boy is hilarious._ She loved to tease and emarrasse him. He was like a puppy. _Like a really cute puppy._ The bartender saunters over to her, "Hello, beautiful. What can I get for you?" He leans forward on the bar, his face just above her own.

She smiles wirily up at him. "Hello, right back at chu, handsome." She winks. "Shot of whiskey, please ~" She waves a dollar bill and he nods. Moving away to grab her drink, Cana turns around to examine the bar. It had soft lighting though-out the place, as most bars in town seemed to have. It even has this _smell_ too. She couldn't even determine if she liked it or not; it just lingered throughout the bar. It reminded her of what it smelt like in the guild after they all had been fighting. _Almost like sandpaper and sweat?_

A sign lay crooked against the wall, explaining an interesting fact of the day. _Did you knooooow? Marco Polo claimed Gryphons came from Madagascar!_ She pondered for a moment. _Who is Marco Polo? And where is Madagascar? Well, that wasn't very interesting._ She shrugged her shoulders; this bar was weird. The green carpet had already given it a strange hue.

Since their guild was known for their, _ahem_ , destructive tendencies many bars coincidentally were closed the day the members returned home. This mediocre bar was the last one they could find that would host them. They found it down an road off the main street; not extremely popular, but it did well enough to host a larger than average crowd. As she glances around the room, she discovers why it was so unpopular with the main crowds. It had random stickers of ponies on the walls and the tables looked like they were from a century ago; nothing matched at all. They had tiger striped chairs and zebra print coaches. The stools seemed to be from an old classical era. She spotted another sign stating the itinerary for the night. Apparently there would be an open mic shortly.

She turned back around to look at the bartender as he poured her shot across the way. Her hair draps over her shoulders as she eyes the man infront of her. _At least the view is nice._ Her eyes wander down from his face to his arms, they trail to a more private area of his body. After taking her shot from him, she downs it without a word and left him. He simply shrugged and started chatting up the next woman who took her place.

As Cana left, she feels the urge to get some fresh air. She had been in the bar for only an hour _but_ she had already had 3 barrels to drink. _Fresh air would be amazing right now._ She makes her way through the maze of people and feels her way to the wooden door. Avoiding the stares from random patrons and the casual gropes she gets, she makes her way through. Pushing it open, she wraps her arms around herself.

The wind feels cool against her skin; her top barley covering anything. She looks up to the sky; the stars are shining brightly. _I wonder where Gilhart's is right now._ The moon illuminates her as she stands, breath slightly showing in the cold. She sighs and goes to lean against a wall. Instead, she finds herself flinching forward, not feeling the cold wall against her back, but a soft fabric instead. A grunt comes from him, and causes her to squeel.

Spinning around, her eyes go wide. Shaking her head at the man infront of her, "You've got some explaining to do."

* * *

Juvia sat, contemplating how next to declare her love for the man currently arm wrestling Salamander. She admires the way his biceps look as he flexs them. Her heart pounds as he sticks his tongue out slightly, concentration spread across his face. "Ah, Grey-sama." She sighs out, enjoying the way his name feels on her tongue. Her eyes travel lazily across the room, looking at the sign beside her. She could already feel the eye roll coming before she sensed someone sit in the chair beside her.

"This seat taken?" A man spoke softly to her. She almost jumped out of her seat at his voice. She turned to meet white hair and green eyes. His face was chiseled at an angle, his noise a handsome shape. She couldn't help as her heart beat a little bit faster at his precense. _Oh no! Juvia's heart betrays her! It's only supposed to do this for Grey-Sama!_ She wiggles away from his slight touch. (He sat a little too closely to her on the next chair.)

"Ah no!" Though he had already sat down.

"Hey there, you can call me Jake." He smiles at her and holds out his hand. She fidgets shyly at his informality. "Juvia."

Just as he is about to say more, the background music in the bar is abruptly cut, causing everyone to look around at each other. A small man walks onto the stage. "Hello! We've got our first act of the night! Mira-jane from fairy tail!" (Is everyone from fairy tail tonight?)

She burst onto the stage in what was akin to her teenage rock attire; shocking all present.

Gajeel clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He watches Mira on stage as Levy sways side to side beside him. "Awe, I love her voice." She takes a sip. "She's great!" She turns up to him, wondering his opinion. He looks to Mira on the stage; everyone was watching her with great interest.

He shrugs. "I can do better."

His voice is greeting by a jingle of laughter; sounding extremely pleasant to his ears. He finished his drink before leaving her as Jet and Droy exited the bathroom. She waves at them and then scowl as they notice the dragon slayer retreating from her.

"How's your nose! I'm sorry." She pauses. "Again."

"Ah, it's nothing i couldn't handle." Droy says, pointing to himself.

"Dude, I'm the one who got a nose bleed."

"Well you got it from being hit by a girl!"

"She took me by surprise is all!"

Levy sat down at their table as the two bickered back in forth. She grabbed the drink infront of her and began sipping it again as she listened to the next act.

* * *

After Grey had been forcibly removed from the imitation's game, he had wandered over to the bar and (accidentally) (?) fell onto Natsu. Lucy gave a shriek at the sudden surprise and spilled her drink on herself.

"Grey, you ass!" She screams at him. Giving Natsu a look, she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. He watches her intently until she disappears from view.

Turning half of his body to look at Grey, he smacked him in the shoulder. "Dude, what the hell?"

"You were the one who wanted to fight!" Grey threw up his right hand, an icicle forming there.

"Man, like, that was almost an hour ago! Go away, I'm having fun." He looked to the empty seat beside him. He turns back to stare at the table. Grumbling to himself, he takes a drink. "Or at least I was _jackass._ " He snarls at the ice mage.

Plopping down into Lucy's seat, Grey shrugged. He leaned back to back his elbows on the table, watching the next act on the stage. Feeling a breeze on his chest, he casually notes that his shirt had been removed at some point during the night.

"Ah calm down, you'll be with her tonight, yea?" Grey asks.

"Well, not if she brings someone home."

"Ah, right. You sleep there but you don't _sleep_ there." Grey winks at him. Natsu turns from him to drink from his beer. As Grey looked at Natsu, a flashback of the grand magic games appears in his mind. Natsu stands with his shirt tore, yelling about family and loyalty to a guild as he fights Sting and Rogue. Grey just remembered being _proud_ in that moment. That was _his_ guild mate; the one that called him _his_ rival. Even though Grey would admit (never allowed) that Natsu could probably kill him, Natsu still saw him as a rival of equal strength.

It had been years with the two bickering amongst one another. As the drunk thoughts of his swirled in his mind, he pondered for a moment what it would be like if they were friends. He turns to Natsu. "Sup?"

"What do you mean, sup?" Natsu doesn't turn from him, keeping an eye on the bathroom.

"I didn't think I would have to define that word to you."

"…" Natsu turns to face Grey.

"Sup?"

Natsu sighs and takes a drink. "Nothing."

"Man, _what_ is with everyone sighing tonight. I swear this building is going to be blown up." Grey mutters so Natsu can't hear.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing, flame-brain."

Natsu scoffs at Grey. "How's Juuuuvia?" Natsu allows the alcohol to stretch out the word. Yes, lets blame the alcohol.

"I dunno. Chillin' somewhere."

"Yeah, and I know wheeeeere!" He grins up at Grey. As he looks over confused, Natsu tilts his head toward the other side of the room, where a bunch of tables lined up in front of the stage. As his eyes scanned the crowd, they fell upon blue and white hair, _way_ too close together. _He's not even from our guild! How dare he try to steal a member of fairy tail!_

Natsu chuckles to himself as he lifts his glass to his face. He watches Grey storm off into the crowd. As he yell, the announcer calls up the next act. Just as he was wondering why Lucy was taking so long, his thoughts were answered.

On stage stool the iron dragon slayer in his signature white hat and suit. His guitar lay in his lap as he sat on a stool, mic to his face. A few feet from him, a tipsy Lucy stood in a bunny costume, uncharacteristically content with the situation. As Natsu's cheeks turned pink, he spun away from the scene.

A few feet away, Gajeel sat on his stool; couple tankards of beer at his feet. _Alright! Time to shine, Gajeel! We've rehearsed this for days!_ "Ready, bunny-girl?!" He glances back at her.

Her eyes narrow for a moment at him. "You're lucky I like Levy so much."

"That'a girl." He turns back around to speak into the mic.

"I would like to say this song may be about" he pauses, getting flustered, "or not!" he clears his throat. "about someone who means-"He coughs again, cutting off his sentence. "Here it is."

As the lights dim, two spot lights illuminate the figures of Lucy and Gajeel. Lucy sways and tryies to look 'sexy' (Natsu had to leave to go to the bathroom for some reason a lot during the performance, Erza would take note of _that_ later) as she dances for Gajeels strumming. He seemed to be getting up the courage to start singing.

The first word that breaks out makes the guild sweat drop. "Shoo-bi-do-ba!" He stands up abruptly, causing the stool to tumble backward. "I really think you smell really nice!" Another 20 seconds of strumming. "And you're really smart!"

Most of the song consisted of simple oneliners, most not having to do with one another.

"Your glasses are weird!"

"I like your bandana!"

"And the way you eat chips."

As he sang, Natsu internally cringed from the bathroom; where he was washing his face repeatedly. Erza just put her hand to her forehead and continued to shake her head in shame. Most of the others had similar response to the entire situation. A few times, the announcer tried to take the mic from Gajeel, but his glowering kept him at bay.

Lucy was just glad she had been drinking previous to the situation.

* * *

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	3. Cana & ?

Hey, guys. Check out my other fairy tail fanfic. Totally NaLu and _totally_ completed. :)

\- to enkindle courage

* * *

 **This is the story of 10 friends, one night, and all the stupid, crazy, embarrassing things that we do, to find love.**

 **Cana & ?**

10:12 pm

As Gajeel finishes his tune, he is quickly booed off stage, his white tuxedo becoming dirtied by his guild mates. Somehow, someway, his guild mates have found potatoes. Yeah, not tomatoes. God damn, _potatoes._

Gajeel winces outwardly as he yells back to them. "You don't know music!" A potato just misses his head and causes him to turn again. As he leaves, he curses himself for allowing Pantherlily to leave on training without him. _Damn you! You're my cat! You said I was okay! Lies!_ Tears stream behind him as he flees backstage, grabbing Lucy's hand.

Erza stands near the back, leaning beside the doors. She should say that it was unbelievable what the guild mates were doing and that she disapproved, but that would be a lie. Her ears gave them silent regards as the pounding in her head began to lessen.

The bar doors burst open; causing the half-intoxicated Erza to jump. She quickly looks around to make sure no one noticed her fright. Her eyes are draw back over to the door as Cana marches in through the door, dragging another hooded sob toward the bar. _Is that her den?_ _Lair for her prey?_ Erza shutters. It was so open; so _scandalous_ to her to be so loud with affections but as she watched Cana plop the man down on a stool and lean in intimately with him, she frowned. _Perhaps, that would be the best way to convey my affection toward him._ Her frown deepened. _If he still remembers me after 7 years._

She watches as Cana pulls the man closer to her; she still couldn't see his face, but she assumes he was someone she knew. _I hope. Otherwise, God help him._ As she leans back deeper against the wood, she reflects on the misfortune she had with men tonight. _I don't understand what's wrong with me! No one would even talk to me properly after I did the eye thing Lucy showed me!_ (Is she glaring at me still, guys?...Guys!)

It never donned on her that perhaps the fact she was always hanging around Natsu and Grey (who share the same issues) might cause her problems. She didn't think Natsu had anyone he liked but she recognized that Grey should speak with Juvia, but only because she was so open with her feelings. _Ah another lady, being vulnerable. Grey always ignores her though…_ She ponders for a moment, what life would be like if she took Juvia's approach.

 _She's wearing a floral dress and her hair cascades down her shoulder; the scarlet woman shines bright. She had clasped hands as she looks forward._

 _She's nervously, her feet scuffing at nothing below her as she bites her lip. She brings up a hand to brush back a strand of hair that fell away.  
_

 _A blue haired man walks out of a fog toward her. He's dressed in a black suit, blue hair more vivid than she remembers. Roses began to form around him and a rainbow forms in the background with a clear **d**_ _ **ing**_ **.** _She swears she can hear a unicorn neighing somewhere in the distance._

" _Jellal-sama." She gasps out, love struck eyes enlightening her features. "Erza-san loves you!" She squeals and bounces up and down. Her eyes pop out of her skull in the forms of hearts at him as she smiles the widest smile she can._

 _He quickly recoils back in horror; a disgusted look on his face. He stares at her for a moment longer before turning. Throwing his hands in the hair, he releases a high pitched scream and flees back into the fog._

Erza visibly shutter. _That wouldn't work._

She glances back over to the bar, seeing Cana already engrossed in conversation with the man who had just arrived. "How do you do it?" She whispers to herself.

A mischievous grin forms on her face. She quickly requips in the corner; everyone is too drunk to notice. After a moment, her hair is tied back and is a tight-black ninja outfit. Laughing slightly to herself, she almost stumbles when she takes her first step. Recovering she coughs, looks around, and slowly disappears into the shadows.

She's sitting in the bar, listening to his big ol-why-i-was-gone excuse and then his i-dunno-what-to-do-waaaah whine. She's staring at her (we have to stop trying to count at this point) shot of whiskey. She lifts up the glass, feeling the cold against her fingertips, and throws her head back, drinking it. She slams it back down onto the counter with a thud and waves to the bar keep.

"- And we made our way to the guild after the 5th year to see if you had returned, but still nothing. So we left; the three of us set out to destroy some bad guys for a while. Then-" Her eyes travel over to the hooded man beside her. _Bad guys? That's what you call them._ She giggles at him, forcing him to stop talking. "What?" His voice is calm and smooth; like velvet.

"You called them bad guys!" Tears start streaming down her face. (She's drunk and beginning to overreact to things she finds funny. Mind you, Cana thinks everything is funny most of the time.)

"And?" His voice is impatient, wanting to finish his story.

"We aren't ten!" Her laughter is becoming almost incontrollable, drawing looks from near by patrons. He notices that slowly more and more are turning to look at the woman beside him. He grabs her arms and tries to shush her.

"Shh! No one can know im here!" Sharp and quick, his deep voice stops her laughter.

She rolls her eyes at him. "And why not?"

He gives her a look.

"Oh, right." She looks down at the nearly refilled shot. _Did that bartender just swoop in here and I didn't even notice him?! Ah man!_ "But then why you here?" She cuts out unnecessary words from the question.

It's his turn to look down at his drink. She can see the slight shrug come from him; a miserable sigh escapes him.

"I don't know."

* * *

"I seriously can't believe I did that."

" _I_ seriously can't believe you did that…. again."

"Grey, don't be a dick."

"Aw, come on Lucy. It was cute."

"…" A pause. "Thanks." Her eyes go wide and her cheeks so slightly pink.

"Yeah." He scratches the back of his neck as they hang out around a table near the pool tables. The lighting makes it more dim here than the rest of the bar, which was strange considering this is where the pool tables were. You usually have to see to be able to play.

They stand awkwardly together near the back. Their nakama had decided a pool turny was the next best thing to do after only 4 people trying to sing.

"Man, I don't get the point of the game." Lucy states after a few moments of observation. She clacks her nails against the wooden table.

"Right?" Grey looks at her with exaggeratedly wide eyes. He turns back to the game. "Cards! Now that's a game to play at the bar. Or darts! Pool is lame."

"Is it that or because you're good at cards and bad at pool?"

"…"

She giggles at the ice mage as his cheeks turn red and he spins away from her.

"Neither… the first one… okay fine. both." He mutters out as she keeps her heavy stare on him. He crosses his arms and slumps in his tiger striped chair.

"Uh Grey?" She sat up straight, fear taking control of her. From the corner of his eye, Grey could see the glowering coming from the water mage toward him. Grey couldn't help but shrug. _Well, I did kind of drag that guy away from her._

"Man, why does she think I'm your love rival!" Lucy yells out, putting her hands to her face, trying to lessen the intense anger directed at her.

"Hey, don't say it like that's bad!" Grey sticks his drunk tongue out stubbornly at her. "It's not like I'm a monster!"

Lucy tries to muster her giggles from her bent over position, peeking out to look at him. "I needa drink!" She announces when they stop laughing.

"Yeah, me too."

"Bar?" She nods toward the bar, which was surrounded with a bunch of patrons, keeping the one bartender, exceptionally busy. _Well, its their own fault for having one guy on a Friday._ Though he is swamped, the bartender makes sure to give his best smile to every woman he sees. (In their joy, they usually forget it's been ten minutes since they ordered.)

"Well, shit." Gray mumbles. "We'll be totally sober by the time that line goes through!"

"Well, we will be buying drinks…?" She leaves the question open and gives him a where-is-this-going-you-stripper look. (Natsu taught her well.)

"But then we'll have to wait for the alcohols effects." All of a sudden, Grey has a chalk board.

No pants, but hey, he even brought an eraser.

"Where-?"

"See, as we stay in line." He uses a laser pointer to highlight two poorly drawn figures. One labelled with a G and one with an L.

"A laser poin—"

"AS I was saying." He clears his throat. "As we stay in line, our body's will be sweating off the alcohol and the air we breathe will make us way more sober." He points to what looks suspiciously like Natsu's armpit and to a tree (his symbol for air).

"Grey, I'm not sure that's how it goe-"

"I will freeze you if you interrupt me again." She goes quiet and shakes her head. She throws up her hand, motioning for him to continue. _I don't even know. This is ridiculous._

"So poop, we're sober now at the bar." He shrugs. "Then we order." He points to a frail looking bartender on the board. He pauses for a moment to add a mustache on it. Giggling as he admires his word, Lucy yells at him. As he comes back to reality, he begins again. " Then we have to wait 20 minutes for the drinks!" He had drawn a clock, but without number or hands. (It looks like a circle to Lucy.) "Even more sober! The horror!" Grey fake clutches his chest and fake stumbles. "Then we get the drinks and drink them AND THEN we wait for the effects!" He finishes, collapsing to the floor.

Lucy gives him a polite clap at his performance. "So?"

He stares at her from the floor flabbergasted. "You don't get it?!" He looks at her likes she's stupid, despite him being the one with a full school sized chalk board ready to go.

"We'll be sober?"

"No!" He jumps to his feet and then flips over the chalk board, showing new drawings. (When did he prepare these?) "Obviously we're going to sneak some liquor in! We're just down the road from the liquor store." He points to a G and L figure again. "First, we leave the bar, without telling anyone. If we do, more people will come and it'll be too obvious." He points as the figures make their way to square labelled LS. "Make our way to the store and buy stuff. Then, we sneak it back into this place for ourselves." The L-G figures make a round trip, landing back at the store.

 _Was a chalk board necessary for that one?_

He stood triumphantly with a foot on a stool.

"Alight, Captain Morgan, I'm in." She giggles at the ice wizard.

* * *

"If you like a girl, you should tell her."

She says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"But—"

"Listen here, yea pansy." Cana's sitting on a barrel now, they had moved to a different section of the bar. A giant straw stuck out from it, between her legs all the way to her head. It was a silly straw, turning in circles a few times before going up. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"She could stop talking to me!" He explains with a desperate voice.

"Oh, cuz there's _sooo_ much conversation now." She remarks, taking a sip from her straw.

He gazes down at his hands. "Well- I mean- I..."

Cana smiles sweetly to the man infront of her. "Listen, if you think it's because you don't deserve her, that's shit." She takes another sip as she points her finger at him. "People move on. It's human nature, man." She can barely stop her sipping to speak, "but don't think that they forget. They never forget. They just accept."

He continues to have a staring contest with his fingers. "But what if _I_ can't accept it?"

She pulls her lips away slowly from the straw.

"Well, that's up to you, isn't it?" She stands up, the empty barrel tipping behind her. She walks over to the man sitting on the chair. She clasps her arms around him, and gives him a hug.

Afterwards, she springs back up with a grin on her lips. "Alright, pretty boy, I'm out. I've gotta go find me a man!"

She turns from him, and leaves without another word. She'll see him again tonight, she's sure. Glancing over toward the bar, she sees the pathetic wanna-be drinkers crowding it. She frowns and looks back toward the tables, to see if the waitress was busy. She saw as the woman fluttered about the room, clearly overwhelmed by all the patron. Scowling toward them all, she makes her way to the restroom. (Powder her nose right?)

(Not because a door saying _Liquor storage_ was right beside it.)

* * *

Levy sits alone near the pool tables as Jet & Droy battle Elfman & Evergreen for the pool turny win. Though ' turny' may have been a bit of a stretch; there were only about 8 participants from the guild and 4 randoms they found. (Tournament was too much of a mouthful for the drunken members of Fairy Tail.) Makarov was nearby, sulking that his team with Juvia hadn't panned out. She had left in the middle of a game to chase after Lucy and Grey.

Natsu had found himself watching the pool games instead of playing in them; the _old man_ had said he wasn't good enough to play. (Well, he technically said if he lost, he would burn everything but that's the same thing!) And so, Natsu sat moping at the table beside Levy as he pouted. She turned to the Salamander and sighed.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" She spoke softly to the boy.

He immediately slams his face into the table, then spring back up with a smile to his previous position. "Nothin!"

An eyebrow raise gets him to nervously fidget. "Okay, well… Grey and Gajeel are weird!" He spoke allowed, falling back onto the table. He covered his head with his arm and groaned. "I hate them!" He yells, but it comes out muffled from behind his scarf and arms.

"What did they say?" She pokes him in the side, causing him to jump up.

"Ah!" He sits up straight. "I can't tell you." He frowns.

"Natsu, we're Nakama, you can trust me." She leans closer to him and puts her hand on his arm reassuringly.

Another groan escapes him. "But Levvvvv-"

"Don't drag out my name like that!" She huffs with an embarrassed expression.

"Like what, Leeeeeevvvv-"

"Eeep! Natsu!" She smacks his arm. "Tell me what's wrong or I'm leaving."

He finishes laughing at her and calms down. "Alright. Alright."

He takes his tankard and has a sip. "Grey and Gajeel said we should… do normal guy stuff tonight." He says awkwardly.

"What, get laid?" She guesses as she sips her cocktail. She twirls the umbrella in her hand slowly until she sees his face. She drops it at his expression. "What!"

"How did you know! Isn't that like a guy code- secret thing!" He stumbles over his words.

She giggles at him. "What, no, Natsu. That's what Lucy and I are doing tonight?" She shrugs at him.

Again, his jaw drops for another time tonight. "You what?"

"Well, duh." She says a little too harshly. _This_ _ **is**_ _Natsu I'm speaking with._ "We're a bunch of twenty year olds, what else would we do here?" She shrugs. "Well, the youngest of us are anyway." She glances over to Makorav who was still being comforted by Juvia. "What, this isn't your first time drinking, how are you figuring this out only now?"

He shifts awkwardly away from her. "Well, I always just wanted to fight…."

"Ah." Realization dons on the scholar. "Now you have time to think of other things because Erza will kill you if you fight. Got it."

She moves closer to him and nudges him. "Is it Lucy?" She asks in a hushed tone.

He flails away from her, caught off yet again by her bluntness. _Is this drunk Levy?_ He looks into her eyes to see them hazy and foggy. _Maybe she won't remember._

"Maybe." He whispers back after regaining his composure. He's greeted with another one of her famous squeal, jumping up and down clapping her hands fast saying the word 'yay' repeatedly. In that moment, she reminded him of a certain brunette. (Yay Me! Staring London Tipton, anyone? Natsu would think later. (What? No. He didn't watch the SLoZaC.) (Never.)(Lucy just happened to have the dvds at home…))

"Well! What are you going to do! Lu-chan always goes home with someone on nights like these!" She slightly frowns at the boy. If only he had realized his feelings 2 years ago; that's when Lucy finally broke down on Levy saying he would never see her feelings.

"Eh. I dunno. Nothing I guess."

She gawks at him. He had made so much progress tonight and that was it?

"Hmm, I wonder where Luce is anyway. I'm gunna go look. Later Lev!" He stood and quickly left the scene, casually throwing a hand up to wave goodbye.

She stretches her hand out to try to catch his vest, but misses. She gawks as he wanders off through the crowd with his nose in the air, obnoxiously sniffing things as he walks by.

 _You poor girl._

* * *

"Well, hey there handsome." She winks at the man who just entered the room. He seemed to be a part of the back of the house staff. Perhaps a dishwasher? _Doesn't really matter~_

"Oh no…" He trails off, eyes wide. "You drank most of the alcohol!" He glares down at the brunette before stopping. He stands up straight. "You're Cana of Fairy Tail."

"Yup! That's me." She hiccups and smirks at him. As he glances at the empty containers, she responds. "Ah, don't worry. I'm good for it. I'm just impatient." She tosses aside an empty bottle. She stands up and wipes her hands on her pants. Clapping them together, she tosses him a bag of jewels. "Tips in there too." She winks.

"Just meeting you seems to be enough of a tip." He takes a step toward her, making sure she notices the way his eyes travel down from her face to her barley clothed body. She can almost hear his bearth hitch as he looks at her, even if she is in just her regular attire. She giggles at the young man, he must've been only 22.

Her smiles breaks open and she saunters over sexily toward him. She grabs his tie and shuts the door behind them.

The sign saying _Liquor Storage_ soon became lob sided as thumping came from the other side of the door.

* * *

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	4. Erza

Hey guys, remember to leave a review :)

\- to enkindle courage

* * *

 **This is the story of 10 friends, one night, and all the stupid, crazy, embarrassing things that we do, to find love.**

 **Erza**

10:43pm

"Okay, so it was quick-"

"Seeeeee."

"If you want me to say it, shut up!"

"Say it right!" He whines out.

"I, Lucy Heartfillia, was wrong for saying that it would take longer to go to the store." Her right hand is clasped over her heart as her left arm dangles down, holding a brown bag.

"See, that wasn't so hard." Grey gives her a smirk as he ruffles her hair. The duo are currently returning from their trip to the liquor store. The store had been deserted with a lonely cashier on duty. (Who was _not_ prepared for two hammered fairy tail wizards to make an appearance at his store. _How_ did they understand one another? It was all slurs to him.)

As they reached the bar doors, Lucy gave Grey a look that said _? ._ In return, his look said _Well?_ She sighs and removes the bottle from the bag. Glaring right at Grey as she does it, she manages to hide the little thing inside her breasts and down her shirt. From the front, it looks fine, but from the side, it is clear the bottom of the bottle trails down her stomach.

"Grey, your clothes."

"Hey, this time I know I'm taking them off." He _pffts_ at her and continues to unbutton his jacket. Throwing it to her, he remarks. "Here, wear that till we're safe inside."

Pulling the jacket from off of her head, Lucy lets out a few chuckles. "Alright, alright." She feels the softness of the fabric as it rests gently against her skin. Once on, she fastens a few buttons and looks up at Grey. His face is pink and he isn't 't looking at her. "What's wrong?" She looks down. "Is it obvious?"

Grey brings a fist up to his face and coughs. "Naw. It's good, lets—"

"Where the hell have you been!" The doors burst open, causing Grey and Lucy to recoil from one another. Lucy almost trips over the bottom of Grey's coat and falls back forward into him. As his arms wrap around her to catch her, a (medium sized) roar emerges from the other man. He dashes forward, wrapping his hand around her wrist and pulls her to him.

He pulls her a little too hard and she crashes her head against his chest. He stumbles a bit, the alcohol throwing him off balance. He recovers fast, steadying the two of them. His nose dives into her hair, smelling it; fully expecting to bask in the scent of Lucy. (He doesn't.) He releases a growl before letting her go. Natsu grabs her hand again and drags her inside, leaving an extremely confused Grey outside.

Grey chases after the duo.

"Hey, _I_ paid for half of that, flame brain!"

* * *

Small gasps and pants came from the bathroom, but not the kind Erza has been hoping for. She's staring at her tomato face in the mirror as she exhales slowly. She's frantically trying to calm her breathing.

Earlier, Erza had decided to don her ninja suit and spy on Cana; soley for the intent on figuring out _just_ how to talk to a man. She thought she would just learn what to say. Never had she been so wrong.

As she spied on the conversation, she was still never able to make out the man's face. The idiotic bar's green hue made seeing a ways off almost impossible. As she spied in on Cana, she heard her claim that telling someone they like them was simple; easy even. Erza had shaken her head at that moment, clearly disagreeing with her.

It appeared the man had disagreed as well because her follow up was "Listen, if you think it's because you don't deserve her, that's shit." She takes another sip as she points her finger at him. "People move on. It's human nature, man." Another pause. "but don't think that they forget. They never forget. They just accept."

Erza had frowned at those words. Cana was right, but acceptance was hard. _What if he doesn't forgive me for leaving for 7 years? Without a word!_ She had shaken her head again, wanting to rid herself of those thoughts.

It was in that moment that the man had finally spoken loud enough for her to hear, but apparently for Cana not to.

"I don't know, Cana." He called after her, almost by mistake. He flinched back, drawing his hand to his body. She didn't see that part though. All she heard after was forgotten in time as she repeated that line over and over and over in her mind. Her heart began to race and she had fled the scene; unsure of what was happening.

 _Why did that happen!_ She glares at herself in the mirror. _I can't like a taken man! Cana has him!_ She cries out in frustration. _I don't even know him!_ She glances down to the sink; faucet on full blast. She scoops cold water up into her hands and splashes her face. She makes her way over to the paper towel rack. (Why are you staring at me, lady in a pant suit in the bathroom holding a bunch of towels?) She throws her paper in the trash and looks back into the mirror.

 _Why does my heart jump at his voice? It's just so… familiar?_

Her thoughts are interrupted by a loud burp.

A brunette in a blue bikini top makes her way past Erza and to a stall. Forgetting to close it behind her, Cana squats down. (Erza blushes again, looking anywhere but where she is peeing.)

As she's does her thing, Cana calls out to Erza. "Oi, what you freaking out about?"

Erza stutters. "Well, ah. You see—"

"Man!" Cana interrupts her, standing up from the toilet. "I just had a _bunch_ of fun." She smirks and walks toward the sink to wash her hands. Erza stands beside her with her arms crossed and mouth dropped. _Already?_ She frowns.

Cana's eyes flick up to her for a moment and then fully once she registers Erza's frown. She turns her head to face her, "What's wrong Erza?" She frowns at the scarlet woman.

She releases a sigh. "Nothing." Her hands fall from her chest to her side.

"Ah, boy troubles eh?" Cana smirks at her. (She doesn't even know if that's the problem. That's just _always_ the problem to her.) "Who?" She asks after a moment.

Erza looks down at the woman in front of her. She has no idea what comes over her; she doesn't even register that she said it until Cana replies.

"Really? Without even seeing his face?!" Cana whistles to herself. "Damn, you got it _bad._ " She giggles as Erza turns scarlet. "My guy isn't as good looking but-" She shrugs "- I don't think it'll work out between us." Erza looks toward her confused.

"What?"

"Oh, right, the dishwasher. Kevin?..Karl?...Kasie?" She brings a finger to her chin and taps it. She shrugs again. "eh."

"Why not the hooded guy!"

There's a pause in their conversation as the weird pant suit ladies lets out a dramatic sigh. Cana turns to glower at the woman.

Her eyes reluctantly rip away from the woman to meet Erza's. "Not my type." She shrugs, almost laughing. Suddenly her eyes go wide. Her finger points into the air. "David!" She snaps, chuckling to herself. "Man, that would've been awkward."

Erza mentally (and physically, let's be real here) slaps her forehead at Cana's words. Removing it, she crosses her arms.

"Listen, go talk to the guy." She smiles at her but Erza can't match it.

"But what about-?" She starts.

Cana grabs her by the shoulders. "Woman, listen to me! Go and talk to him. It can't hurt and you _like_ him! When have you ever liked someone!"

"I—well, " She's flustered at the proximity of Cana's face to her own. (That woman is still staring at the duo, now munching on some of the chocolates she should be handing out.)

"Here, lemme do your make up! I'm even better at making myself sexy when I'm drunk, so you should be a sinch!" (That wasn't entirely wrong.)

"Ah. Okay." Erza spoke hesitentaly as Cana seemed to pull out a whole tray of eye shadows; and that was just the beginning.

* * *

"Natsu, you are totally over reacting!"

"Is he, Grey-sama?!"

"My, god, Juvia. Yes!

"Lucy, why did you leave!"

Four mages stood bickering in the back of the bar, keeping well away from any bouncers or workers. Lucy has the bottle of vodka threateningly in her hand as Juvia approaches her. Grey's hold onto Natsu by his scarf and Natsu has him by the shirt. The drunken fools were bickering about—well? At this point, no one was sure.

"Stop!" Lucy screams, catching the attention of Natsu, and Grey in return. Juvia stops her approach as Grey's eyes flick over. "What is going on!"

"How could you leave like that!" His face is a steady pink and his eyes are slightly hazed. Lucy grabs a cup of water off a random table and slides it to him.

"You're drunk."

"So are you!"

"Natsu, your face is _red."_

"Uh, guys?" Grey had been released by Natsu's grip as he sipped the water. He floats away from the dragon.

"What?!" Both of them snap at him.

"Now you both are overreacting." A frustrated sound tore from Natsu's lips as he threw his hand in his hair.

"Well, I was worried is all. You left without telling anyone… and you weren't at home…" Lucy's eyes widened at his confession.

"You went to my house?!" She cried out at him. "Why! What if I _was_ there?!" Her mind travels to thoughts of her in bed with a handsome man, stroking her face, then the next moment, Natsu laughing his ass off by her window. "You idiot!"

"Uh, Lucy-san." Juvia starts, trying to calm the woman.

"Well, whatever! You're the one who ran off with the ice princess!" His words cut through Juvia, reminding her of Grey's betrayal. She sprints forward and grabs Natsu's hand, running away from Lucy and Grey. "What—Juvia!" He shouts, fighting water lock grip.

She walks confidently ahead. "Come on! Juvia will teach Grey-sama what it's like to be jealous." With that, they left the bar and into the night.

* * *

"I am a geeeenious ~" She sing song's out, skipping behind the fairy queen.

"I—I don't even know what to say." She touches the mirror. "Is that even me?" She glares at the image. "Or a nasty monster in disguise?!"

"Hey, don't insult my work. Those were the hardest seven minutes of my life. " She scratches the back of her head. "I don't get the rush, we still have like 3 hours till last call. You got plenty of time to chit-chat."

Erza turns pink again. (This night was just chalk full of embarrassing moments for the woman.) She bashfully turns away from the mirror and to Cana. She smiles at her.

"Oh, not too much or you'll smudge." Cana takes a paper towel from the weird-hovering-now pant suit lady. She dabs at the corner of Erza's lip and leans back. Closing one eye and lifting a thumb, she cocks her head and sticks out her tongue. "Perfecto~"

Cana quickly grabs the scarlet haired woman by the scruff of her dress and threw her out of the room.

(Her upper body strength had increased since she last checked.) Impressed with her throw, she begins to flex in the mirror.

(The pant suit lady sits down on her chair, disappointed the make up tutorial was over.)

* * *

Gajeel is moping in the darkest, shadiest, strangly-green-hue-iest corner of the bar. Disappointed that no one had liked his song, he had been there hiding for a while. He scowled down at the floor. _I definitely made a fool out of myself!_ He roars internally. _Where is Salamander when_ _ **I**_ _need to fight?!_

It was a small hand on his shoulder that trailed up to his check that stole his attention. His eyes flashed upward to meet a beautiful smile. She beamed down at him with a grin on her face. Pulling her hand away, he grabs it for a moment with his own, letting it linger on his check. He closes his eyes and leans into her hand.

By now, Gajeel knows that there is no way he could make a bigger fool of himself tonight, so what could this do?

She blushes as she feels the cold iron studs on his face rub against her hand. He releases her and she sits down beside him softly.

"Why are you hiding over here?" Her voice is soft and quiet; an angel in his ears.

He answers her honestly, mostly because he has no choice. "I'm an idiot."

She giggles and he can feel his heart leap at her laughter. "No, Gajeel, you aren't." She pats him on the knee gently. His palms begin to sweat as he imagines her hand gliding upward and—

"Gajeel?" She had removed her hand a moment ago and placed it back in her lap. Currently she was worried she had disturbed him; a growl had come from the man.

"Hmm?" He turns to face her and her worries vanish at the sight.

"I really liked the song, Gajeel." Levy smiled at the man.

"Yeah, well, we didn't really like the song." A voice startled the two from behind; Gajeel was too focused on her to notice their approach.

"Yeah man, can you even write a complex sentence?" Jet & Droy had appeared behind them.

Levy curses their timing.

(Almost outloud.)

(Okay, she swore at them.)

* * *

Erza recovers from her stumble (via Cana) and is hovering in the hall way leading from the bathroom to the bar. Panicking, she begins to fiddle with her dress. She glances up, searching for her target. Her eyes land on the hooded man in the back, who sat with his hands clenched infront of him.

She makes her way over (remember to saunter, woman!), and tries to be the best version of 'sexy' she can be. (100% Erza in any challenge.) She pulls on her dress, purposely lowering it. This,after all, was about appearance at first, then came personality.

She stops just infront of his table and he doesn't turn to look at her.

"Hello." She says quietly. He still doesn't move. She repeats herself, slightly louder. "Hello!" She tries to say it with more cheer and enthusiasm.

He jumps at her word, but doesn't say anything. She watches the hood turn toward her and then back to the table. Without any response from him, she turns, feeling rejected. Suddenly, she feels a grip on her arm.

"Erza."

The voice is deep and calm; there is no mistaking it at this distance. She spins around.

"Jellal?"

* * *

"How _dare_ she just grab him and run off!" Lucy growls as they walk through the street.

"Well, that is what I kinda did. I'm sorry, Luce." Grey apologizes to the huffing and (what is surprising to her as well) furious girl. "She won't do nothin'". He casually adds, trying to lessen her worrying. "He can handle himself."

"Well, yeah but he's _Natsu._ " She emphasizes. "Does he even know how to reject a girls advances?" She throws her hands into the air. _I can't believe it just said that! He ignores all of mine!_ The confusion the situation was causing her did not help calm her down or even help them in the situation.

He gives her a look that screams of sarcasm and she fires one back to match. "He's not _totally_ an idiot." He pauses for a moment to look down the road.

"I think."

* * *

"Why—How—what are you doing here?" She stands back, flabbergasted at his presence in Magnolia.

He pulls her down to him, causing her to flush. He shifts over and pulls her some more, forcing her to sit beside him in the booth. He quickly lets go of her once the two of them are settled. "Jellal…" She hissed.

"Shhhh…" He whispers to her. "No one can know it's me. The council is still looking for me…. even after seven years."

It's her turn to pause; she had assumed his escape was recent and that was why he had yet to come see her. This was a whole 'nother thing. "You've been out all this time?" She gasps at him.

She sees him nod, sadly toward her. "I escaped about 3 months after you disappeared." He calmly remarks.

" _Why?" Hadn't he accepted his fate? Was turning over a new leaf?_ She frowns at the man infront of her; she had hoped he changed.

The silence between the two becomes unbearable before he speaks.

"I needed to find you."

It's a quiet confession, but she could hear it. "Why?" She asked curiously, feeling like a broken record, but she was too far into it (the rum and conversation) to care.

He sighs, turning to look her in the eye.

It's the first time he's done it in what seems to be a lifetime. Her heart, despite her best intentions, skips a beat and her stomach flutters. She can see his face, their closeness revealing the face behind the hood. "I remember."

Another gasp from the scarlet causes him to laugh a little. "So many times I've dreamt of this." He laughs again at her. "And I never imagined the great Erza Scarlet would be drunk during it." He smiles as she looks shyly away.

"Well, you did follw me to the bar to talk to me."

He shifts awkwardly. "Erm, well-"

She peeps curiously over to the man. "What?"

"I watched you compete in the Grand Magic Games." He admits. "I was there the whole time."

She scowls at him. "You should've said something."

"You were always around guards after the raven tail attack; I couldn't risk it. I'm sorry."

She looks at the man she had thought forgot her. He had watched her compete and cheered her on, even without her knowing about it; knowing she wasn't fighting for _him._ She smiles at how gently the real Jellal truly was, just like he had been as a child.

"I forgive you." She smiles up at the man and leans into his shoulder.

* * *

Review and fav please :)


	5. Natsu&Juvia

**Sorry for the delay, work Lyfe. Youknowwhatimsayin'**

 **-to enkindle courage**

* * *

 **This is the story of 10 friends, one night, and all the stupid, crazy, embarrassing things that we do, to find love.**

 **Natsu & Juvia**

11:02 pm

The moon shines high in the night sky as the stars twinkle around it. A cool breeze gently picks up leaves and propels them down the cobble stone street.

They are abruptly squashed by a giant blue high-heeled boot.

"Salamander! Why are you fighting Juvia!"

"Because I don't know what you're doing?"

Juvia is currently dragging Natsu by his left arm and his scarf forcing the Salamander to follow her in the city streets. (Perhaps the people of Magnolia are heavy sleepers and can't hear the arguing pair? (Or perhaps they are too scared to approach two drunken wizards.))

She pauses and turns to look up at him. "Grey-sama needs to learn what jealousy is!"

He gives her a 'are you kidding me' look and shakes his head. He brings his hand to his face and rests his elbow on his other arm, which is crossed at his chest. He stands there for a moment, taking in her words. (Did the whole Lyon thing just fly over her head?)

"Juvia, I am not sober enough to deal with this type of stuff." He tries to play up how intoxicated he truly is. He stumbles a little bit toward her to lean on her.

She narrows her eyes at him and pokes him in the chest with a finger. "Juvia will not be fooled; Gajeel always takes much more to become like _that._ " He releases a groan as she pushes his chest.

"Well, why does it have to be me!" He throws his hands in the air. "I wish I could fly and leave all you crazy people tonight!" He pauses for a moment and looks up at the sky. He begins to run frantically in circles. "Happy!" He cries out over and over.

Juvia sighs at the ridiculous antics of the dragon slayer and face palms. "It has to be _you._ " She hisses out to him. "You're Grey-samas bestfriend!"

Natsu stops and freezes mid stride; his right foot hangs in the air and his mouth is ajar. With his hands still in the hair, he turns to look at her weakly. "No way." He unfreezes to stand dumbfounded infront of her. After a few moments pondering her words, he turns bright pink. He spins from her. "Yeah. No way."

She giggles at him. "What, of course you are! Who else?!"

He's silent for a moment and shrugs. "Erza?"

She shakes her head at him. "Maybe a great friend, but not like you two."

He gives her an exasperated glance from his position away from her.

"Natsu-san, you two fight to make each other stronger! You also don't ever hurt each other, too badly, when fighting. You both have stopped each other from giving up each-others lives. You constantly hang out, even when you say you hate it. You bicker and argue just like an old married couple!" She's listing them off, putting a finger up for every reason. They come fast and smooth, like an obvious fact. She smiles as she continues on. "You watch each other's backs in battle; I've seen it myself. You push each other into doing things you've never tried, and get whole new experiences all the time because of it."

As she speaks, all Natsu can think about is how he considered women to only have 'best friends'. They shopped together and giggled and shit. _I didn't want that in a friend._ Males were different? (Happy would be saddened by the discovery of this conversation, but would understand. (After a fish from Mira.))

He turns to her, slowly, as she speaks and drops his scarf. He stares at the ground with wide eyes. "Man, I really am dense, aren't i?" He mumbles to himself. "To not even realize how important someone is to me…after all this time."

* * *

Cana exits the bathroom after a few moments chatting with the strange pant suit lady. She glances toward the back, where she had left Jellal and smiles brightly. The scarlet haired woman had managed to wiggle her way into his booth.

Unfortunately, the scarlet woman was dressed so _fox-ily_ that she was drawing near by patrons eyes. Despite the pride she contains in her work, she knows she is going to have to draw away the extra eyes for his sake. Upon this realization, Cana set outs from her position in the doorway toward the back of the house.

She wanders aimlessly through the back of the bar, wondering why their security was so relaxed when she comes across a woman scribbling at her desk. Cana approaches her and slightly bumps the wall, to let the woman know someone was there. (Frightening people isn't really Cana's thing.)

The woman looks sharply up and glares. Quickly, however, her frown turns into a bright smile.

"Cana of Fairy Tail! How can I help you!" The blonde woman bubbles up from her chair and swoops around her desk. Now standing directly beside Cana, she crosses her arms to her chest. Cana, who is caught off guard by the proximity, stumbles back a step.

"Uh, hey!" She casually goes as she recovers. "Listen, I need a favor."

* * *

In a shadowy area of the bar, a heavy atmosphere reigns. Gajeel sits in a corner with his guitar beside him. He waits silently with his legs and arms crossed; back to the wall. _Stupid, Fairy Tail! They wouldn't know good music if it came up and bit them in the ass!_ He smiles for a moment. _Grey would probably think Natsu hit him and vice versa._ He chuckles. _Idiots._

Too tuned into his own thoughts, Gajeel misses his favorite scent as she approaches him.

"Gajeel?" A small voice peeps into his darkness.

His response is a simple grunt of acknowledgement; more than anyone else would receive. With it, she takes it as permission to approach him further.

"Hey, what's wrong?" The kindness and concern she constantly shows him reminds him of why he was in this place.

"Nothin'" He remarks, still sore from the potatoe attacks.

He didn't realize until he felt her soft hair tickle his face and her head rest on his shoulder that she was sitting beside him now.

"I really liked it."

It was a small little whisper, he wasn't even sure if he was meant to hear it, but it causes him to break out into an excited smile. Almost immediately, the menacing dread that wafted through the area was gone.

"Really?" His voice is not a whisper, and is completely unbashful. In an excited tone, he turns to look down at her.

He feels the smile in his shoulder and feels the leaps his heart begins to take. (He prays momentarily that she wouldn't hear his thundering heart.)

After drinking for so long and giving _all the fucks she had_ for the night away already, she answer's him with confidence and courage. "Of course. You wrote it for me and that means a lot. I love to read and write. So you writing something for me is…" She falters for a moment as her cheeks turn pink. "really great!" The words finish fast, almost blending into one.

He shoves her gently off of his shoulder and begins to stand. At her slight protest, he offers her a hand up as well. He makes his way with her to a table right beside them, thinking the chairs would be better to sit on than the floor with her.

* * *

Juvia throws her hands into the air at the depressed Salamander. "Ne, ne! You are just as dense as Grey-sama. Honestly, it may be a 'boy' thing." She uses air quotes. "I don't really know." She finishes with a shrug. "Besides! That isn't the point!" She wails again.

He shrugs again toward her. "Then what is?" He sticks his tongue out at her fury.

"You were just as mad at Lucy-san as Juvia was at Grey-sama!" She meets his tongue with her own, sticking it out as she finishes her words.

He openly laughs at her. "Nooooo way!" He drags out the now as he puts his weight on his back heels and crosses his arms at her.

"Please, you can't fool Juvia. Juvia knows _what_ love is."

Not willing to partake in this particular conversation (apparently all his nakama want him to bone Lucy tonight), Natsu turns back toward the direction of the bar. She grabs his arm and speaks softly.

"How did it feel to see your best friends clothes on your woman, Salamander?" She growls out the last half of her sentence, angry at the situation all over again.

"My woman?" He gives her a look that screams of disbelief, for the second time of their adventure. "Lucy is no one's 'woman'." He shutters visibly at the words. "Why would I want to _own_ Lucy?" He imagines her for a moment in bunny ears, (his new pet rabbit!), but slowly the image draws back to reveal her in a tight black bikini, little bunny tail just sticking out above her rear end.

Feeling blood rush away from his head to other regions, Natsu shakes his head. "I don't own anyone." He pauses to think. "Well, maybe Happy, but don't tell him that!" He allows a snicker to leave his lips as he thinks about the protests his best friend would have at being called a 'pet'.

He hears her giggle as well and turns to look at her. In this particular lighting, even Natsu has to admit that she looked gorgeous, despite being bundled up in a coat. He quickly looks away from her before he can take in the curves the tight coat revealed. He is pulled away from his daydreams after she grabs his arm and starts dragging him again.

"It won't work unless we stay together and let them follow us! We have to get going!"

He ponders on it for a moment. _What's the worst thing that could happen?_

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't forget about me."

His simple words break this peaceful silence and she internally frowns. She looks up to him with a slight smile on her lips. "How could I forget you?" She means it as a compliment, but for some reason he turns from her quickly, as if she struck him. "It only felt like a few days." She tries to recover but he still is turned from her.

Sitting up straighter, she forces the panic bubbling inside her down. "What?"

"Nothing." He replies vaguely.

"Jellal, it's obvious you're hiding something. What is it?"

She hears him take a deep breath before turning to look at her. Releasing it all at once, he, in an exasperate tone, says, "how can you even look at me after what I did?"

 _No more beating around the bush, I suppose._ She frowns again, wishing he would wait to have this conversation and just allow themselves to be happy for the night.

"Because you didn't do it." She hiccups and takes a sip of her water. "Or, what I mean, is that you were being controlled. It wasn't a choice."

She can feel how tense his body is beside hers without even having to look directly at him.

She glances down to her water and then back to the man. "Let me go get us drinks. Let's have some fun together for once." She smiles hopefully at her but he sits back further into the booth.

He moves his hand into a inner jacket pocket and pulls something out. He hands it to her with a shy smile. "Well, actually, I've gotten pretty good at sneaking stuff in."

She glances to the bar to see the ever growing crowd and then back to him. With a wiry smile she takes the flask from him, opens it and sniffs the contents. After a gulp, she purses her lips in a distasteful way and cringes her eyebrows. "Uhh, whiskey never went down right."

He slightly chuckles at her face. "I don't know, I don't mind it."

* * *

"Well, I'm pretty sure we lost them, good job!"

The sarcasm in his voice is exceptionally thick as he looks toward the blue haired woman as they sit on a park bench. "We've been here for like 5 minutes and I haven't even smelled them." He throws his hands up behind his head to glance at the stars. "I don't get why you like the guy anyway." He feels himself shrug, not meaning to really ask a question.

Juvia however, sees it as a challenge. She feels the excitement of 'love' welling up inside her, but her physical form is tired from the walking and the drinking, forcing her excitement to stay inside. In an almost un-Juvia like calm voice, she begins her response.

"If you had asked Juvia that before Tenrou Island, she would say it it is because of when we met." She chuckles. "Very, love at first sight for me." A pause. "Juvia was caught off guard by the feelings Grey-sama brought up in later months though."

Natsu removes his arms from behind his head. They were going to have a serious discussion, whether he liked it nor not tonight, and he prefers it to stay away from a certain blonde haired wizard.

"What do yea mean?" He glances to her, not fully understanding her. _How can you have more feelings than love?_ "Are their levels to love?" He gets excited again, hoping there would be a 'boss' fight at the end of each level.

Not fully understanding what he was saying, Juvia simply nods. "When Juvia first met Grey-sama, she fell for his power and his kindness; as well as his handsome-ness." She finishes, slightly awkward as her face turns pink. "But the more she learned about Grey-sama, the more reasons to love him appear." She sits up straight, embarrassment crossing her features.

"Like what? His unbearable stripping habit?"

At her pink blush and slight nod, Natsu groans at her. "Really?"

"His self-confidence is incredible." She looks Natsu in the eye. "Juvia has learned a lot from him there." Natsu shrug at her.

"I guess." As he continues to diminish her reasons for love, Juvia feels her challenge grow.

"Lyon was the person who made Juvia realize how much she love Grey-sama!" Natsu bursts out laughing at those words. Lyon was clearly in love with the woman, why would he help his rival?

"Righhhht. How?" He drags out his response, not fully believing her.

She turns away from him, clearly nervous again. She hiccups, momentarily wishing she had brought her drink with her. "They're the same, on the surface…" She trails off. "Many of our guild mates have asked Juvia why she hasn't chosen him instead, since he loves Juvia." She turns bashfully away, almost completely turned from Natsu. (His dragon hearing was better than a human's, so he had no trouble hearing the little whispers escaping her lips.)

"But it isn't true!" She desperatlely cries out and pulls her hair. "They are so different."

Natsu turns to her, slightly confused. He would argue that Grey and Lyon share a ridiculous amount of similarities but once he saw her positioning, the words froze in his throat.

"Lyon may be a handsome man, but Juvia's heart races for the boy who saved her from Phantom Lord; the one who would never hurt an innocent person; the one who is kind to Juvia; even after all of the rejection he gives her…" She trails off again, sadly accepting that Grey tolerated her.

"He hasn't rejected you."

The words cut through her very soul and shocks the blood in her viens. "What?"

"Has he ever said, "Juvia, I do not like you!" when you are with him?"

"But he runs away from Juvia!"

"Maybe he isn't ready for a relationship yet!"

"Why not?"

A groan of frustration tore from Natsu, the conversation was hitting too close to home. "I don't know! Why don't you ask him!" He stops himself before saying something he'll regret.

She ponders on his words for a moment. But before he can change topic she continues. "Wait, do you even know what it's like to be in a relationship?"

It's that question that starts Natsu down on the path of fidgeting and blushing, clearly caught off guard. "Erhm, well, I mean-" He had seen few relationships; mostly Lucy's and they all seemed excessively …physical.

"Weren't you in one with Lisanna, way back?" She pokes him, wanting a response from the nervous dragon. (She can barely contain her laughter as the dragon squirms before her.)

At Lisanna's name, all nervousness in Natsu vanishes. "Huh? Naw." He scratches the back of his head.

"But she told Juvia that you two were going to get married!" She claps excitedly, imagining herself in a wedding dress beside Grey, briefly.

"Whoa!" He throws his hands up in the air to slow her roll. "I didn't even know what marriage meant back then! I thought it meant she would cook and clean for Happy and me." He shrugs again at his confession.

Her mouth drops toward him. She frowns for Lissana. "I guess woman do misinterpret things a lot…" She frowns.

"Lucy doesn't!"

They both freeze as the words slip accidentally from his mouth. Juvia, not wanting to scare away the emotional side of the dragon, spoke calmly toward him. "What, she's never hit you before, out of nowhere when you were talking? Punch to the arm, maybe a kick after acting weird around you? Like grabbing you or touching you?"

He allows the momentary lapse in judgement as he ponders her words. "Well, she hits me a lot actually."

Juvia giggles slightly at the pink faced boy as he concentrates on his thoughts. "All touches are different, Salamander." She giggles again as he looks to her confused. "Sometimes she hits you because you've embarrassed her." He smirks at those words. (Those were his favorite times. Pink faced Lucy just has this certain allure about her.) Though the rest of her words were lost on him.

"What do you mean, different?"

"Well, it's like each has a secret meaning, like a code word." She whispers, hoping to spark the curiosity in the dragon so he would allow their conversation to continue. _Lucy-san, you owe Juvia~~~_

She grins widely up at the boy and moves to grab his elbow slightly while she laughs. He quickly notices her touch and raises an eyebrow to her.

She widens her eyes in surprise, that he noticed the touch that quickly. _How many times have I watched Lucy do that and he does nothing? Does he not realize…._

"You see, that usually means she likes you." Juvia removes her arm and smiles sweetly at the confused Salamander.

"Well, she never does that." He says quickly and turns red away from her.

She can't believe how far the Salamander has allowed the conversation to go; usually when Lucy or romance was brought up, the boy would vanish from sight. This time however, the glazed over appearance of his eyes and his slightly sluggish movement showed this was the perfect moment to discuss Lucy while the dragon was still slightly intoxicated.

"Does she do this?" A mischievous smirk overcomes her features as she begins to poke and prod the dragon. _Lucy-san, you better get here quickly~~_

* * *

 _Love yea guys. new chapter soon, promise_


	6. Juvia & Grey

Okay, ive been on vaca. My bad.

\- to enkindle courage

* * *

 **This is the story of 10 friends, one night, and all the stupid, crazy, embarrassing things that we do, to find love.**

 **Juvia & Grey**

11:11 pm

In a darkly lit room stands two figures. Only an occasional swing of the lightbulb illuminates the pair momentarily.

A hesitant voice breaks the silence between the two. "I'm not so sure about this…"

"Ah, come on! It'll be fun."

"I've just never done something like this before… I'm not sure it's appropriate in the slightest…." The voice is tentative and apprehensive, slightly shaking.

"Hey!" She throws a thumb at herself. "You're with Cana from Fairy Tail! I don't know the definition of appropriate!" She puts her hand down and gives a hearty chuckle. "And tonight, neither do you!"

"But my employees…" The woman gave a scared glance around, trying to locate them. She brings her arms to her chest and crosses them over her breasts, trying to conceal herself from the world. She's thankful for the poor lighting of the room as it silently shields her body.

"You mean the _two_ other people you have on tonight? Bad idea by the way, should've known we were coming back tonight." Cana catches herself before she rambles on to the manager, who she had dragged backstage a few moments previous and forcibly changed. (Into a rather…exquisite… and tiny piece of cloth)

Before the manager is able to utter another word, Cana ducks out from behind the stage curtain to take in a view of the bar. Many of the patrons seem drunk, she thinks. But she is quick to realize that with no entertainment, the men would begin to wander; it was only a matter of time before Erza is approached. (Drunk men usually think it's a good idea to approach a pretty lady, even if she's with another man.) She pulls her head back in behind the screen, slightly stumbling.

She falls backward and finds herself in strong arms. Glancing down, she quickly recognizes the watch on the wrist of the man who had been serving her drinks. She almost melts into the embrace before jumping away. (The time was for action! Not for cuddling!)

"Uh, boss?" He brings his tanned, muscular arm up to the back on his head and scratches his back. He pauses for a moment to examine her clothes. As the small hanging lightbulb back stage swings, it slightly reveals the managers clothing to her subordinate. The managers' face begins to rival that of tomatoes by the time his lingering gaze subsides.

"Nice. I like blue." With that, the man causally yawned and headed back toward his position at the bar.

After he is out of sight, the manager drops to her knees with a cherry red face. "I can't believe _he_ saw me like this!" She wails. "Im going to die!" Her blue bikini and feathers, combined with her red face and sobbing made her seem utterly comical to the not-so-sober-but-hey-gimme-another Cana. (It _has_ been 15 long minutes since her last drink.)

Cana looks down at the pathetic mess before her and dropped to her knees to settle beside the sobbing woman. "Didn't he compliment you?" She tries to sound reassuring and comforting, but is met by another wail. (How is she even a boss? If Makarov cried like this when he was embarrassed by something, the crying would never end!)

"Yeah- but…." She takes a moment to wipe some snot off of her nose with her wrist. "He…"

As the manager blathers on at Cana, she begins to wonder why she ever decided to be a good friend.

 _I am just not cut out for this._

* * *

Grey is not comfortable.

(Understatement of the year.)

Over the past few minutes, Lucy has been raging about how she is going strangle Juvia when she sees her. Normally, this wouldn't shock him; it was her _reasoning_ that left him a little clueless. She was just… _prattling_ on about how angry she was at Juvia and Natsu and what she would do to them, but not _why._

Sure, Natsu was grabbed by Juvia and taken away, but the amount of fury coming from the celestial mage made him curious. After all, the two of them had been together for a while, with no one else around. _We've been together way longer tonight than those two have been. Why is she so… angry?_

He glances down at the glaring woman beside him. Her arms are crossed over her chest and her face is scrunched. As her mouth moved, her eyes didn't seem to follow.

Lucy didn't strike Grey as the type who is hypocritical normally.

And that's where his discomfort was coming from. He has this unfortunate knack for worrying about people, even when he doesn't want to.

 _Women_ , Grey thinks for a moment, _are the most confusing creatures alive. We're together walking. Not a big deal. I'm sure they're together walking, also not a big deal. It's not like her to be so up front about her feelings for him… I wonder what's wrong._

"I mean! She even grabbed his hand! _His hand, grey."_ Her voice seeps into his ears.

A simple 'yea' suffices before she continues.

"And he just went with her! What, didn't he want to hang out with me..." Just the smallest of pauses. "..and you!"

His discomfort began to ease once he began to truly think of the situation. _Natsu is too much of an idiot to hurt Lucy for good. Ill make sure she doesn't get too mad when she seems them and we'll all go back happy together._ He smiles for a moment and banishes the worry away. The two would figure it out, that was for sure.

To try to remove himself from the awkwardness he was feeling as she rages on about Natsu and Juvia, he begins to wonder if Juvia would have the same reaction. As his mind ponders the strange mysterious of the femme, Lucy yanks hard on his arm, pulling him from his daydream.

"OW! What the hell was that for!?"

"Look!" She hisses and ducks behind a tree. She pins him back to the tree and presses up against him. Caught off guard and unable to look in the direction she meant, the slightly intoxicated Grey has an amazing view (and feel) of the much-more-intoxicated Lucy's best assets. She pushes in farther to him, causing his face to fly up toward the sky. As he admires the leaves on the tree, Lucy finally realizes her mistake. (Of Grey not being able to see!)

"Oh, opps!" She pulls back for a moment, to his needed relief before forcibly flipping him around in the direction of the pair sitting on the bench. Once satisfied he could she, she pressed back into him, trying to hide behind the tree whilst peaking behind it.

As his chest now felt the hard bark of the tree, his back took the entire shape of Lucy.

Though, he would think about that in retrospect, because as soon as he saw Natsu's hand hesitantly reach out toward Juvia, he was suddenly in front of the two of them, seething angry.

The hand that had been stretching toward the water wizard's face was now clasped in the white knuckled hand of Grey. Juvia quickly pulls her own hands off of the dragon as she squeaks in surprise. "Ah! Grey-sama! I didn't see-"

A silent boom of thunder sounds as Grey glares down at Natsu. "Didn't I say she was mine earlier?" He's not fully aware of the edge in his voice, but Natsu hears it loudly.

Yanking his hand away from Grey, Natsu shoves him over to stand. He matches Grey's glare before taking a quick look at Juvia. In a second, he breaks open in a smile. "Oh really? So her saying she was really in love with me was a lie? " Natsu boasts out toward Grey. When Grey makes no movements, Natsu adds. "I mean, I almost proposed!"

In a fit of rage, Grey lets out a drunken yell and spins. He quickly grasps Juvia's wrist and pulls her into him. Before she is even able to squeak out a sound of delight, he drags her off down the street, back toward the bar, ignoring everything, including her protests.

* * *

Natsu yawns and brings his arms up to stretch. His ears catch the gentle crunching of leaves. He inhales deeply, letting her calm scent bathe over him as a small breeze rustles by him.

With his eyes closed and his hands behind his head, he allows her to approach him from her hiding spot. _Of course_ he could smell the pair of them coming; the two drunken fools had been quite loud behind the tree as well.

Though Grey may think him the fool, he would defiantly owe Natsu one later. He smirked. _After all that, he better tell her or_ _ **I**_ _might kill him._

As the cool air dances on his flaming skin, he feels a loneliness slink over him. _She's distant right now._ He supposes that she's shocked at his words, by how long it's taking her to reach out to him. He honestly can't remember the last time he even said the word 'love' (or anything related to it) when Lucy was in earshot. This, Natsu thought, was a drunken error.

No, he knew even when he met her; Lucy could only see the flame dragon boy who can save the world and half-breaks it in the process. She didn't see all of him yet. Nothing he did gave him credibility in the adult world, and to be honest, maybe he didn't want it. _Come on Luce, I know you can deal with it._ He pulls his arms away from his head, not content to wait for her voice to break through to him. His eyes open just in time to see her reach the bench and sit down, shyly glancing away from him.

He's been patiently waiting for her to see him as a man in his own right.

For now, those words would make her wonder about him, and for Natsu, that was enough.

He smiles slightly at her shyness. _All that talk about romance and you freeze up with this? I wasn't even talking to you…silly._ After a short second, her eyes go up to meet him, chilling him and stopping his heart. He wonders for a moment if she can read his mind but as she sticks her tongue out at him, he finds momentary relief.

 _But I'm drunk, right? What do I really know?_

* * *

 _I guess she was doing the worrying for both of us! That flame brain tried to_ _ **touch**_ _her. I can't believe this! What utter shit. That stupid freaking flame dragon thinking he can just waltz up everywhere and take anything he wants! Juvia would never even like a hot head like that guy! All he does is fight and break things!_

"…-sama."

 _Ice and water go together way better than flame and water! What utter nonsense thinking that Juvia could fall for that. It's not like he saved the world or something! Fuck, you know what nevermind but I helped too!_

"…-sama!"

 _We've been through way too much together to just let it go like that! Don't you remember woman! I'm not going to let an insolent brat like Natsu—_

"…-sama!"

 _Obviously I like her, everyone knows it. So why are you butting in, can't you just let it go at its own pace, I have enough competition with Lyon anyway. Ah, you bastard. Now I'm in this type of situation all because of you! I will castrate you so help me-_

A sphere of water suddenly surrounds him. Completely immobilized, Grey could only helplessly drown as the water swirled around him. Just as he is about to call for aid, the water scatters and he crashes to the ground.

Sitting on his ass now, completely soaked, his eyes rack the scene for his attacker. He freezes once he realizes that the only person around is an extremely pissed off and intoxicated water mage.

"Juvia has been trying to get Grey-sama's attention!" He tilts his head as she pauses and spins from him. He can see the slight shake of her body from his position of the ground. He watches her bring the wrist he had grabbed up and clutches it to her body.

His eyes close and his head sinks down once the realization that he has scared and hurt her sinks in. He grabs a hand and runs it through his hair before getting to his feet.

"Juvia..I" He takes a step toward her and sees her back flinch. He had expected her to yell at him, but instead she had flinched. His heart almost broke there. _I…really fucked up._

"Juvia..I'm..I'm so sorry for doing that. I just got so mad." Her shoulders begin to tremble more as he speaks, forcing the guilt to eat away at him. "You.. know. That flame brain is always riling me up! It wasn't you…"

He desperately wants to hold her; to tell her he's sorry and that he's an idiot. _But maybe I've waited too long and she can't put up with it anymore…_ He takes a step toward her and then another. Despite her trembling and flinching, she doesn't run from him. _That's hopeful right?_

"I know he was lying, you don't have to worry! I trust you.." Her quivering figure almost causes his knees to cave in as he approaches her from behind. "You're so important to me. Please don't be scared of me!" The desperation he's feeling makes it to his voice and forces it to crack midsentence.

When he reaches her, he still can't see her front or face. He reaches out to her with his right hand and rests it on her shoulder. She doesn't move away or even flinch as he does it, causing a smile glimmer of hope to appear in him. "Listen…you can hate me—" She spins toward him quickly and dives at him.

Caught off guard, Grey loses his footing and falls backward. As he lands on his back, he lets out a slight 'oomph' as Juvia lands on top of him.

Before Grey can say anything, Juvia props herself up on her elbows and looks down to his face; her hair shielding the two from the outside world. In the few seconds in takes her to do that, Grey's thoughts leave him as well as his breath. She was just so close now.

"Finally caught you!" She grins down at him and starts to giggles. "Sorry Juvia tricked you but you weren't listening to Juvia!"

Grey surprised at her trickery began to laugh as well, relief filling every atom of his body. He doesn't have the words to express himself.

"Yeah. You did."

* * *

"Okay. Seriously—"

"Seriously!" She snickers as she mocks him.

"Erza." She holding something up above her head, just out of reach from him. He's draped over her, desperately trying to grab the object.

"Jellal." She pokes his side with her free hand, causing a course of laughter to spring up from the belly of the masked man.

"Hey, you stop that." He glares at her.

Quickly matching his glare, Erza shakes the flask in her hand. "Make me." Then pokes him again in the belly.

"I am an adult I do not have the time to be.." Another poke in his stomach causes more laughter.

"Ah yes, I'm the very adult Jellal. New and improved from seven years ago! I have no time for laughter or fun things!." She says it in a condescending tone, meant to poke fun at him.

"Well, I'm Erza Scarlet, exactly the same as always, and I like to steal people's alcohol and torture them for it." He sticks out his tongue at her and matches her smile.

"You're drunk Jellal." She giggles as she settles down in her seat again, the excitement of teasing him again after so long wearing off.

"And you're not?" His hand snakes around her waist and he pulls her close, forcing her to lean against his chest. His hand began to feel down the side of her body when she turned a color that would rival her name. _So Forward!_

"A-ha! Got it!" Goal found, he rips the flask out of her hand and moves back away from her. He looks up to see her rosy expression and laughed. "The best way to get what I want seems to be embarrassing you."

She begins to laugh with him. This was a moment she wouldn't take for granted with him. Right now, she wasn't the Fairy Queen and he wasn't a wanted criminal. They're just Erza and Jellal.

"Excuse me beautiful, would you care for a dance?" A third voice broke through the pair's conversation. Erza glanced up to find a man smiling down at her with his hand stretched out and the other behind his back. "A woman such as yourself shouldn't be coped with in the back like this."  
"Uh..er." Before she's able to respond, the man grabs her hand, a misunderstanding that she was too bashful to say yes.

"Don't worry, princess, Ill-"

"She's fine." He didn't have to speak loudly to scare this man. "Get lost." Even with the hood concealing his face, the men's eyes met. Without another word, the man bolted from the scene.

Erza, slightly flustered from the moment, turns over to giggle at Jellal. "Well, someone's jel-"

She finds herself wrapped in his arms with his head in the crook of her neck and freezes, unable to process his touch. His warm surrounding her, goose bumps begin to rise on her skin as she feels his hot breath on her neck. His hair tickles her face as he moves down her neck.

"So what?"

* * *

"Not that... I hate this…but we are... in the middle of a sidewalk." Grey's mouth moves and these words flow out but all Juvia can focus on is breathing normally as he gazes up at her like that. His hand reaches up to touch her cheek and grazes it with his fingertips. She almost melts into his touch and the red tomato blush she had has cooled down to a small smoulder.

"Yes…we should.. definitely.." Her voice falters as her body swirls from his touch and alcohol. She lets out a small sigh and bites back the grin when she hears his breath hitch in his throat. _Finally._ As his hand trails down her neck and then up into her hair, he slowly pulls her toward him. He lifts his head slightly and with her eyes wide, kisses her.

And then the dance of ice and water began to play out. They kissed as though they were passionate lovers that had been separated by a lifetime.

But they were still in the middle of a sidewalk.

Regretfully (but Happier than she's even been), Juvia quickly climbs off of Grey after only a few short kisses. He is quick to sit up to cover his 'area 'and brings a hand up to cover his flushed face. She giggles at the embarrassment crossing his features.

"Geez, Grey-sama is acting like a maid." For some reason, Juvia feels astoundingly calm.

A slight sound of protest comes from the frost mage but is halted when Juvia gives her hand to him to help him up. As he stands, he makes sure that he's a little too forceful so she crashes into him again.

With a grin, he wraps his arms around her and she hesitantly does the same.

"I'm sorry that I made you wait so long. I don't know why I did it."

It's the truth, he reflects, but only after he says it. As he thinks of the woman in his arms, he doesn't remember when she began a necessity to him or why he was so afraid to admit it.

"I'm so sorry."

* * *

I've never written so many embarrassing scenes all at one. Ah.

Like it? Review maybe. Happy the cat would want you to.

For science. yknow


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